It’s finally time for the Walldogs in Kewanee

Tuesday

Jul 9, 2013 at 6:45 AM

What started as an idea at the initial Kewanee Marketing Collaborative meeting in January 2011 has blossomed into a major community and regional event.

It’s Walldogs Week in Kewanee.Over the past two years more than 50 community volunteers with support from the city of Kewanee and donations from local businesses have made this event a reality.What started as an idea at the initial Kewanee Marketing Collaborative meeting in January 2011 has blossomed into a major community and regional event.“There definitely have been hiccups and times when we didn’t think this would happen but it’s coming to event time and now is when the work really begins,” said Russell Medley, executive director of the Kewanee Economic Development Corp.“Not only do we get 15 beautiful new murals, but we will have a transformed downtown,” Medley said. “These murals are a brand new tourist attraction that will be unique to Kewanee in the Western Illinois region and the city of Kewanee is stepping up with new amenities in the downtown including new park benches, trash receptacles, planters, and wayfinding signs that will be placed after the event.”Initially, 10 murals were planned, and the Walldogs were projecting that Kewanee would have about 130 artists coming to town.The project has grown to 15 murals, with more than 200 artists planning to come to town.we are getting 15 murals and we will be hosting over 200 artists in Kewanee.“The Walldogs are excited and they have been impressed with Kewanee’s ability to handle this project and make everything run smoothly for them,” Medley said.He said the Walldogs project has had more local volunteers than expected.He thanked Great Dane Trailers for stepping in and designing and providing the panels for six of the murals.“Other communities struggled with this but Great Dane Trailers, our largest employer and a very important contributor to the community’s economic base, pulled this off for Kewanee,” Medley said.He urged Kewaneeans to show the Walldogs “Kewanee hospitality” and come on downtown to check out the progress of the murals from Wednesday to Sunday.